MAGPIE'S MUMBLINGS

A blog about my interests, which include fabric landscapes and various and assorted other artsy pursuits and sometimes known to contain mumblings of a random nature.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Welcome to my Studio Tour!

As you step in my door and look to your right, this is what you see. The table is what I use as my cutting table (it's an old metal topped table. The metal was rusting, so I covered it with peel and stick tiles). The drawer holds my cutting wheels and some of the smaller cutting boards. Underneath you can see the water bowl for the cat! Below are are couple photos in more detail...
This is an old chest of drawers which holds my crazy quilting fabrics, loosely sorted according to colour. You can see little coloured dots on each drawer that tell me what colours are inside. I use the space on top for a display area for some of the dolls I've made. You can see a clock a friend scrounged from a thrift store that has a sewing theme and is perfect for my space. The plastic cabinet holds my wool and some trims.
Beside that is my large storage unit which holds my stash of recycled denims, my quilting bats and stuffing and a shelf of odds & sods that don't seem to fit anywhere else. On top is the cat bed, but he wouldn't cooperate and sit there to pose (of course he's curled up there now, after I've taken the picture!).
Around the corner is my dehumidifier which I need because this is a basement room and it does get damp. There's a storage cabinet that I keep odds & ends in. On top I have a heat proof mat for ironing little things. The regular ironing board gets little use because I don't iron clothes! Above that is a recycled x-ray reading machine that gets used as a light box. You can just see the edge of a door that leads into our cold cellar.
This is just beside the cold cellar door and is my work table and display area. The table folds and also moves quite easily into the middle of the floor should I have a group working on a project together. There is a shelf above which holds some handmade treasures, mostly made by friends, although there are a few things of mine there too. Right underneath the shelf I have a strip of cork so I can pin things up. Just below the ceiling I have a clothesline where I hang more pieces of art.
This shows the other corner of my worktable. I found this little corner shelf unit which fits perfectly and holds things I use regularly so that they're handy. You can see more art pinned up and on the shelf above.
This is around the corner and a continuation of my workspace. I have two thread holders, which are within easy reach. The cork continues around the corner too, so there is more display space. To the left of this picture there is another door which leads into our furnace room, and there are more shelves in there where I have my magazines and patterns stored.

This is to the left of the door and is a book shelf from Ikea that pretty much holds all my crafting books kept in categories, sort of! There's one of my recycled denim totes hanging on the door. And do you see the little shoebox on the bottom shelf? Inside that are all the baby cards from when I was born...over 50 years ago!
This is my computer corner. My desk is really small so I put another small table on top of it in the corner to hold more display and things I use while at my desk. Continuing on.....
To the left of my desk there is another small three drawer cabinet which holds my paper supplies and more of my computer equipment. Beside that is another scrounged piece where I store all my beads. You can see that the top shelf holds a number of metal cases which in turn hold small metal cans with glass lids where I store my beads by colour. To the upper right you can see what looks like shutters? Well, they are, but they actually cover in yet another doorway. There are narrow shelves inside there that hold my paints and glues, etc. All the shelves are easily removable should the doorway be needed again in the future.

And finally, to the left of that is another storage unit with labelled plastic containers from the dollar store which primarily hold things for embroidery and embellishing. Now you're back at the door where you came in!

I hope you've enjoyed your tour and I'm really looking forward to having a peek into your studio over the weekend! Please leave a comment and let me know you've visited.
Thank you to Quilting Arts for facilitating a fun tour!!
oh, and p.s. All the pictures are clickable if you'd like a better look.

45 comments:

  1. It looks nice and tidy MA how long did that take you.
    I love all your bits on display.

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  2. It sure does look nice and tidy. You have it managed just right. Mine here is all over the house so won't be on show. My Florida spare bedroom has a Murphy Bed with cabinets on both sides so that is a nice sewing room. Will take some pics when we get settled in Florida and put on my blog.

    Hugs

    Freda

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  3. what a wonderful use of the space -- looks like your storage works well for the collections you have :-)

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  4. Such an interesting studio tour MA. I agree with the general consensus, very tidy but i bet you tidied it up on purpose. I can see some of my ideas there, such as one table sitting on top of another, but i also noted that you use the full wall space very efficiently. That's good.
    But what do you do for natural light? I couldn't work without my big window in front of the sewing table. I might post up a pic of my table and window, but you mustn't mind the mess if i do. K.

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  5. Very well done tour, MA. What a great organized studio you have! I love the cat friendliness, too!

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  6. I'd have to clean for at least a week to get my studio to look even half that neat.

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  7. Anonymous10:48 AM

    Boy..you must have worked your hinny off! It didn't look like this on Wednesday when we were there LOL. You did a great job of tidy-duty.
    Mrs Noofy

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  8. Just ignore all those comments about tidyness - they're just jealous. I particularly like the table on the table. Nifty idea.

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  9. I like your use of items that were originally intended for other purposes; I do the same with my studio and find the challenge of just the right storage quite fun!
    You have a very appealing workspace, and I love, in particular, the clothesline by the ceiling hanging the quilts!
    Very nice indeed!

    Anne

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  10. Fun to see how well you have organized your space for maximum creative use. Thanks for the tour -- I'm enjoying visiting all the others who have been participating along with me!

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  11. This is a great space ~ you're very organized. I especially enjoyed viewing all the artwork, so nicely displayed about. Thanks for opening your studio for us to enjoy!

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  12. Nice studio...Love the lilac colour and all the storage.

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  13. I love how you figured out how to raise your cutting table. As my space evolves, I want to add a high workbench. And I'm glad to see I'm not the only one out there who piles tables on top of tables. My space two houses ago was so cramped, and it was the only solution. People thought I was nuts, but it worked. :-)

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  14. i so loved the tour of your creative space...love the wall color and the lime accents...please come see mine when you have a chance...i am having a giveaway....hugs, rebecca

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  15. Very nice! I love the colour, and all the artwork on the walls.

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  16. Nice tour. And tidy. I clean mine up tooo..!! Love the clothsline idea.

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  17. Oh, you adaptive creature....I love your space - the way you stacked furniture on furniture to get what you needed. I've taken notes.

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  18. Thanks for the wonderful tour! You have a great sense of organization! I love seeing how you have used your space!

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  19. love your studio space....especially your organization and the wall color :)

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  20. I love recycled denim too! Thank you for visiting my blog... I wish you happy creations!!! tj in germany

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  21. Wow you sure have a crammed full and well organised space! I'm mega-impressed. Feel free to come visit and work your magic on my space anytime! And its lovely that you have so many things on display, I really liked seeing them. Thank you!

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  22. I love your "clothesline" of art. Great idea.

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  23. Great idea - your colour coding on the drawers! Fun comments too about the clean-up! Thanks for the tour!

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  24. I love the clothesline with all of the art on it! It would really serve as good inspiration!

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  25. What a great use of space, and some fantastic storage ideas! I really must get around to labelling my drawers to indicate what's in them - why is that what you want is never in the first six places you look??? Thanks for visiting my studio, and your comments, and for inviting me over to yours.

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  26. Such a great set up you have for your studio, and you have some wonderful ideas in use. Especially the light box and your computer corner. Thanks for having me and for taking my tour as well! :)

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  27. That was great Thankyou X:-) (Oh i wish i was so organised sighhhh...)

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  28. I love the colors in your studio!The walls are so soft and the yellow green storage pieces are perfect with it!
    I have dampness and a dehumidifier too! Lately I've taken to leaving a light burning down there even at night to help "dry things out".

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  29. Anonymous2:28 AM

    I love the wall color - it's so nice and cool! and it looks really well organized! Thanks for sharing!
    Shulamit
    Quilts from Canaan

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  30. Thanks for coming by my blog and commenting. I like the way you are very organised. To the coloured dots on the drawers! I have to keep opening and closing and reopening lol! A good idea, MUST sort my fabric next!

    The magazine holders you liked in my room were from Ikea. They are supposed to face the other way (and have a space for a label saying what is in it) but... you guessed... my contents keeps changing and I do what I do with the drawers... I flick through till I find what I need...

    Time to get more organised you think?

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  31. Wow, what a great place to work MA! You have tons of stuff! LOL And you are organized with all of it! I'm impressed!!!! :) Much better than I am in my little studio room. I'm tempted to take photos but mine is almost too small to get in to do that, but I'll try one day. Thanks for the tour and sharing your ideas!

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  32. What a charming place!!!! (and I don't throw that word around lightly) The way you have some things stacked is most creative. And I like the colors you chose to paint.

    And too, too true... sometimes the cats cooperate and sometimes they simply do not. (~: My Lucy napped in the same chair when I re-shot my pictures.

    Thank you for sharing your Studio with us. It is quite inspiring! Blessings

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  33. What a great place to create in! And i love that wall color! Enjoy creating in your Studio!
    Smiles, Anke ;)

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  34. Anonymous1:18 PM

    Your studio looks very organized and colorful, a good place to create. Thanks for sharing with us.

    Hugs
    Barb Vanselow

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  35. With the exception of being in the basement I could be very happy in your studio! I've picked up a couple of good ideas to use in my own place too. Thanks for dropping by my blog to see my studio, and for sharing yours!

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  36. Just wanted to say "thank you" for your kindness and encouragement. The messages you've left for me on my blog over the past few months have helped me immensely. I confess, I hang onto every word!

    Thank you so much!

    Pam

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  37. When you look at your widget that tracks where visitors came from, you'll think I visited your blog a million times! Actually, I had tremendous fun clicking on each photo to see close-ups of how you organized things, and the items you have created. Looks like you are using every bit of space you have as efficiently as you can!

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  38. Your studio looks nicely organized. It's so much easier to be creative when you can find what you need.

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  39. It's been interesting to see how many of creators keep computers in their studios. I had my work office in my creative space, but found all of my textiles just too tempting.... the less interesting tasks didn't get done. Looks like you're able to keep this all in check.

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  40. Wow, your purple studio is fabulous!

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  41. Thanks for the peek; I love the table on the table! How clever.

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  42. Thanks for the tour! It was great! I really liked your dolls you had around the room! Did you make them?

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  43. Fantastic colors! It looks both cheerful and inspiring. :-)

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  44. Love the sage green and lavender purple...those are Thistle Cove Farm colors and they showcase your studio beautifully.

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  45. That studio is sooo tidy. I really like those spool racks but I can't seem to get one in Uk. I've enjoyed catching up with your blog. Sorry I haven't been visiting many lately.

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Thank you so much for leaving comments! I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy life to talk to me. It's wonderful to know that someone is actually reading my mumblings and even more fun if I can connect with you and visit your blog.